Kimmsr, -- seasonally flooded bottomland with more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog. In the natural evolution of things, a lake is big and deep. There is enough depth that the water can stratify according to temperature, and no sunlight reached the bottom. Over time, with erosion and wind it will fill in and become smaller and shallower with more sloping banks. When sunlight can reach the bottom in seasonal low water levels, plants can sprout and grow. As vegetation cycles in a swamp, it sinks. Since the water isn't flowing appreciably, the organisms decay until the O2 is used up. Then the system is anaerobic, complete with methane bubbles. If you removed all the organic matter, a swamp does not become a lake. Perhaps it could be called a shallow pond. But with sunlight reaching the bottom, the land will regrow plants. It's more a matter of depth. A swamp is a swamp not because of dead added organics, but because it's shallow enough to grow plants and trees, and it's wet because it's got too much water flooding too often, and it's anaerobic because the water is not flowing.

Hi September, 1. Oh yes, I would say it's a good mix. None of the plants need real high humidity or humidity requirements that are different from each other. 2. My feeling is to make sure that it is damp, but be very careful not to put too much water in it from the beginning. You can always add water. You would be surprised how dry the soil can for the terrarium to work. 3. Put the lid on and see if it fogs up. If it fogs up you need to dry it out some more. Here I'd like to talk a little bit about your soil density. It looks a little too dense for a terrarium. I would take your soil out and mix it half and half with perlite. Even plants that need a lot of humidity are usually not aquatic plants. They can drown in dense soil. Especially under humid conditions you don't want the soil to be too dense or moist. 4. Not sure if your ferns were in terrariums, but if you follow the conditions above your, fern should do just fine. Good luck Larry PS: I would also make a suggestion that you open the lid and breathe into your terrarium every couple of days. It's not critical that you do that and many people will say that it's unnecessary, but I find that it helps to get some air flow and some carbon dioxide into the terrarium once in a while.

Hi Dave, I actually tried the moisture meter with tap water, and it gave me a 10. I read somewhere that the metal probe must be cleaned thoroughly (e.g., using steel wool) if the meter gives drastically incorrect readings. But in any case, I did try the finger test, and the top inch felt dry, but the inch below felt damp -- when I took out my finger, some dirt was stuck on my finger. I checked for pests, but didn't see any. But I will probably give it another look later.

I don't know about Trilliums, but jacks CAN skip a year, though it is usual. The corms would still be firm though. You received these in May? I wonder if rather than sending you dormant plants ready to sprout in 2016 that the vendor took 2016 plants, removed the foliage and shipped. If that is the case they will not sprout until 2017 anyway. I love our native jack and have it here and there in my suburban garden, where it slowly spreads and sometimes appears in surprising places as seed gets spread around. Conditions here are "average". It certainly seems adaptable and can take some drying in midsummer where it generally dies down anyway. I have a couple Trilliums but they have not done as well for me.......persisted and bloomed for many years but not really increased in size much.